POLISH PEOPLE AND THANATOS – CONTINUATION AND INNOVATION OF CULTURAL PATTERNS RELATED TO DEATH AND DYING

The purpose of the following article is to provide a sociological reflection focusing on the problems of transience and death. By referring to representative surveys and specialist articles published in journals and on the Internet, I wish to present the specificity of Polish experience of grief, faith traditions, honoring the memory of the dead and, at the same time, note changes such as, for example, a dynamic growth of the funeral industry. Additionally, the paper indicates the existing social support in the form of numerous thematically arranged websites available on the Internet, which offer multidirectional help to those in mourning.